Absolution for Each Believer 

To preach forgiveness of sins means nothing else than to absolve an to loose from sins. This is done also in Baptism and in the Sacrament of the Altar, for these were likewise ordained to exhibit the forgiveness of sin to us and to assure us of it. Therefore being baptized or receiving the Sacrament of the Altar is also an absolution. Here forgiveness is promised and awarded each person in particular in the name and at the command of Christ. You should hear this absolution when and as often as you are in need of it and should accept and believe it as if you were hearing it from Christ Himself. For since it is not our absolution, but Christ's command and Word, it is just as good and effective as if you were hearing it out of His own Mouth.

Source: Quoted in Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says, A Practical In-home Theology for the Active Christian. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1959 Edition, 10th Printing (1994), p. 4.